CONCEPCION, Chile — Quake-hit Chile will need international loans and three to four years to rebuild after the most powerful earthquake in a century killed hundreds of people and demolished cities and towns, President Michelle Bachelet said on Thursday.

The 8.8-magnitude quake destroyed or seriously damaged hundreds of thousands of homes, wrecked bridges and highways and cracked open modern buildings in the capital's suburbs. It also shattered vats at Chile's famous vineyards and briefly shut down some of the world's richest copper mines.

"We will undoubtedly need to turn to international lenders," Bachelet said on Thursday. "We are going to have to ask (for credit) and hope that via the World Bank or other mechanisms we can count on sufficient funds."

The death toll from the disaster was thrown into doubt on Thursday when the government said it had identified 279 victims and backed off an earlier estimate of 802 deaths.

The previous estimate included some missing people who have since been located, a government source said, adding that an unspecified number of bodies had yet to be identified.

Some witnesses have said hundreds of people were missing in the tsunami-devastated coastal town of Constitucion, where bodies continued to wash ashore on Thursday. And Bachelet herself has said the death toll is likely to keep rising as rescue crews pull more bodies from the rubble.

Bachelet's government initially said it would be able to cope with reconstruction costs out of its budget. But it misjudged the scale of the damage, which according to one estimate could reach $30 billion, or about 15 percent of the South American country's gross domestic product.

The economy of the world's top copper producer has a good chance of rebounding from quake damage in the second half of the year, analysts say. Ratings agency Standard and Poor's added to that optimism, saying the quake would have no immediate effect on Chile's credit quality.

Spilled wine

Some 125 million liters of Chilean wines worth roughly $250 million were spilled during the 8.8 magnitude earthquake last Saturday that killed more than 800 people and demolished cities and towns, a US importer said on Thursday.